December 04, 2008
Emerging Markets Tipped for Retail Software Market Growth
By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Despite unfavorable economic conditions in countries such as the United States and Japan, the prospects for the retail software market look particularly promising in the emerging Asia Pacific and Central and Eastern European markets, according to an analysis from Frost & Sullivan titled “World Retail Software Market.”
This upward trend will continue, the analysts believe, “as retailers in these regions continue to focus on Business Intelligence, analytics and customer centric products.”
The research firm found that the retail software market earned revenues of over $9.31 billion in 2007. Of this, software licensing accounted for $3.07 billion in 2007 and will reach $5.88 billion in 2014.
The study found that retailers have been substituting their legacy systems for modern day products built on industry-leading platforms, “facilitating the flow of business information across the entire value chain.” The implementation of these products, the study found, “helps manage performance enhancements by offering a perspective of all business information within the purview of the enterprise or retail chain.”
As these products offer extensive performance enhancements, there is a wide scope for the uptake of advanced end-to-end products as well.
“The primary driver of the growth of the retail software industry is the growing focus on business integration and optimization,” concludes Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) Research Analyst Prasanna Prakash. “Using end-to-end products, retailers can reduce their total cost of ownership and make more informed business decisions on a day-to-day basis.”
Besides reducing TCO, retail software also assists in providing uniform brand communication across various channels. Optimization across the various processes and channels allows the retailer to respond better to customer requirements.
Retailers are also turning to retail software products, particularly customer-centric products and BI, to build customer loyalty and try to improve the customer shopping experience through merchandise and promotions management.
Products such as customer relationship management (CRM) enable retailers to target premium customers using customized promotions and advertisements, thereby increasing the customer lifetime value involved.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David's articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.
Edited by Jessica Kostek
